Piano Sonatas No 1, 8 & 5

Schubert’s fragmentary and unfinished piano sonatas come from the period between 1815 and 1823. They are among his most innovative and puzzling works surviving, as it were, as experiments in composition while offering a fascinating insight into the composer’s creative process. This disc starts with Schubert’s very first sonata, continues with three fragments of sonatas remaining from his middle period, and ends with his last sonata fragment, an outstanding and progressive work that looks forward to the expressive world of Beethoven and Bruckner. Gottlieb Wallisch’s first recording of Schubert fragmentary Sonatas is available on Naxos 8.557189.